In 2025, 58% of small businesses reported using generative AI for business operations, more than double from 2023. Yet, many business owners remain unsure how to integrate AI into their workflows. Research from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that, while more small business owners understand the benefits of AI, barriers to adoption persist.
AI isn’t just a time-saving tool for office workers. It has the potential to improve productivity at restaurants, service businesses, nonprofits, and more.
AI tools that save time for different business types
Here are some specific ways to add artificial intelligence to your business operations and keep things running smoothly.
Restaurants
Research from Deloitte found that 8 in 10 restaurant owners believe their AI investment will increase in the next year. Most owners intend to focus AI adoption on enhancing the customer experience, while others plan to integrate AI in their restaurant operations, loyalty programs, and supply chains.
“Fifty-five percent of the respondents surveyed report they are using AI in inventory management on a daily basis; another 25% say they are testing out such applications,” wrote Deloitte. “While forecasting is a common use case here, other AI-enabled use cases include Internet of Things sensors that enable automated data collection for real-time inventory tracking, and the use of predictive analytics to help minimize waste and optimize disposal processes.”
Conversational AI (chatbots), machine learning for optimization, intelligent automation, and natural language processing are the leading forms of AI currently in use at restaurants. For instance, Popmenu and Loman AI are tools that can answer your restaurant’s phone and capture all customer inquiries without disrupting your staff. Nory works on the operational side, managing inventory, workforce management, payroll, and more. And EatOS offers AI-powered menu generation, can write food descriptions, and will compare your pricing with competitors to help you optimize your service.
Retail
Like restaurants, retailers are using AI to improve the customer experience, manage inventory, and forecast demand. AI in retail can also identify cross-selling opportunities, optimize pricing and discounts, and personalize in-store shopping. Retailers can deploy AI to track demand for specific products, figure out where to place items on the floor, and set dynamic promotions that ensure items move off the shelf.
“A small grocery chain uses AI to help determine the right time to shuffle dairy products and other perishable items on store shelves to minimize waste,” wrote Oracle. “One cosmetics retail chain uses AI to help customers select makeup colors and shades that suit their complexions.”
More than 97% of retailers plan to increase their AI spend this year. Retail-focused tools to explore include Trendalytics, an AI-powered trend forecasting and market intelligence software; Retail AI 360, an inventory and stock-taking tool; and Placer, which uses AI to deliver insights into foot traffic at retail locations.
The primary challenge is many owners buy a popular AI product, roll it out, and “wait for magic.” AI isn’t a silver bullet solution; it requires intentional preparation.
Professional services
Legal, tax, and other services professionals can use AI to augment their skills and expertise. Thomson Reuters’ data reveals that more than 70% of service professionals feel they do not have a good understanding of the practical applications of AI. There is significant room for AI to improve productivity in this market segment.
This segment is also where the adoption of AI can have tangible financial impact. Professionals surveyed expect to save 240 hours annually by implementing AI within a year. “That translates to about $19,000 per person, adding up to a $32 billion combined annual economic impact for the U.S. legal and tax/accounting sectors alone,” wrote Thomson Reuters.
“Professional services” encompasses a wide range of jobs, from law firms to accounting to marketing to hair salons. Law firms, for instance, can explore tools like Theo Ai, which helps predict case outcomes and organize case work. Liscio is a similar platform built for accountants, and Vic.ai automates accounts payable.
It’s not just that AI can improve the way service professionals work. Those who understand AI can leverage this knowledge to differentiate their expertise in the market. “These professionals are seeing that AI is enhancing their skills and expertise rather than replacing them,” wrote Thomson Reuters.
Contractors and freelancers
For contractors and freelancers, AI improves client management, streamlines workflows and billing, and handles routine tasks that can eat into productivity.
Some tools can improve client deliverables: Canva and Beautiful.ai, for instance, are great for building slide decks and presentations. Jasper, Writer, Runway, and Midjourney offer AI assistance with content creation. And, of course, chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini can help with writing and research.
Contractors also benefit from AI that handles time-consuming administrative tasks. Task and project management tools like Asana, ClickUp, and Hive use AI to make sure freelancers meet their deadlines. AI is also present in scheduling tools like Reclaim and email assistants like Microsoft Copilot for Outlook.
How to automate routine tasks using AI
The AI tools that freelancers and contractors use to manage their businesses can also be adopted by other business types. By some estimates, AI will save professionals 12 hours per week by 2029. Simply by automating routine tasks—scheduling, emailing, invoicing, and workflows—today’s workers can work more productively on high-value projects. Here are a few areas where AI can help improve your day-to-day work:
- Email drafting: Use these tools to write, polish, organize, and automate emails.
- Generative AI-powered assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and others can draft professional emails, write newsletters, and generate templates quickly with prompts.
- Spike AI can manage your inbox with intelligent features like email summarization, reply suggestions, and priority detection.
- Grammarly can edit your emails for grammar, tone, clarity, and professionalism.
- Scheduling and appointment booking: Automate bookings, reminders, calendar syncing, and minimize back-and-forth with these tools.
- Data entry: Use these AI solutions to reduce manual data handling, form entry, and repetitive tasks.
- Inventory: Track stock, sales, and fulfillment more intelligently using these tools.
Common mistakes small businesses make when using AI for productivity
Small businesses most often run into problems with AI when they rush to add tools without building a plan for adoption. Plan for training and an implementation timeline that identifies a clear use case, helps employees use AI results critically, and maintains security for your data and systems.
The primary challenge is many owners buy a popular AI product, roll it out, and “wait for magic.” AI isn’t a silver bullet solution; it requires intentional preparation. Start from a specific workflow or KPI you want to improve. Determine what KPIs you will track so you’re able to measure ROI and decide if the AI is serving its intended purpose.
Likewise, many businesses give their employees access to tools without structured training on prompting, evaluation, or when to use AI. This can lead to haphazard application, as well as quality issues. Small businesses sometimes assign AI to high‑stakes or highly specialized tasks (e.g., contracts, HR decisions) without sufficient human review, exposing them to legal and reputational risk. Give your team training to recognize and check for hallucinations, bias, and outdated information.
This training should also address data security and compliance to keep customer data safe. Make sure your team knows never to paste customer data, confidential financials, or IP into external AI tools.
Overall, AI works best when integrated with existing systems and tools. Spend time determining where in your organization an AI tool can have the most impact and connecting the dots for employees who will use these tools regularly. Communicate early and often about the risks and best ways to use AI so everyone gets up to speed on the security and quality implications of using these platforms.
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